


A Sip of Hemlock

by falconette360



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Sayuri, Drama, Harmonization, Humour, Reincarnation, Sawada Iemitsu Bashing, cloudy sky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:07:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29040642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falconette360/pseuds/falconette360
Summary: A highly intelligent and pragmatic pansexual is reincarnated into an anime she barely remembers and gains a fluffy little brother. (Or where one older sister tries to remain on the sidelines, but gets dragged in anyways. And the best laid plans of villains and heroes get trampled). Kawahira certainly did not prepare for this. Not quite SI/OC.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 129





	1. A Drop of Belladonna

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: KHR does not belong to me. It belongs to the wonderfully talented Akira Amano. I do not own anything except my OC.

_Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita_

_mi ritrovai per una selva oscura_

_chè la diritta via era smaritta._

(In the middle of the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest dark

Where the straightforward way was lost.)

\- _The Divine Comedy (Inferno Canto I)_

_by Dante Alighieri._

* * *

Beady black eyes set in a cherubic face observed as a female figure jogged down the street. The woman slowed down as she approached one of the residences situated there. Swinging open the gate, she stepped onto the walkway and bent over, hands on her knees, as she panted lightly in exertion. Straightening up, the black-haired woman swiped at the light sheen of sweat that was visible on her face, and fished out some keys to open the door. Stepping inside, she could be heard announcing her arrival, voice getting fainter as she closed the door.

"Hmm, interesting," mused Reborn.

* * *

"Tadaima!" Sawada Sayuri called out, as she slipped off her trainers in the entryway.

"Okaeri, Ri-chan," replied her mother, coming out of the kitchen to greet her, wiping her hands on a napkin. "You're later than usual today, musume. Everything alright?"

Pausing on the stairs, Sayuri half-grimaced and said, "I almost encountered that loud Sasagawa kid. Had to take a detour to avoid his _extremeness_." Laughing at the almost-horror on her daughter's face, Nana shooed her up the stairs and said, "Well, seeing as you are later than usual, can you make sure that Tsu-kun is awake? I'll make breakfast today. Go on, go take a bath, and wake him up, okay?" shooting Sayuri a sweet smile, Nana went back to the kitchen.

Sayuri went up the stairs and stopped in front of her little brother's room. Opening the door, which had a fish sign on it, she made a face at the messy state of her otouto's room. Her fluffy-haired brother was sprawled on the bed, limbs splayed apart. Sayuri smiled softly at the sight of her brother's peaceful face, and backed out of the room, closing the door softly, intending to let her brother have ten more minutes of sleep.

Going into the bathroom, snatching up a bathrobe on the way, she started the shower and stepped into it, after removing her sweaty clothing. While showering, she thought back on her life, which she still could not understand on why it was her second one. Oh, she knew she had been reincarnated, that her soul had been recycled, but that did not mean she automatically understood the metaphysical aspects of the entire situation. And why the hell she was living in a previously-fictional world, one which she had watched an _anime_ about. For the first nine years of her life, she had lived as a happily oblivious, and very prodigious, girl. But witnessing her five year old brother (at that time) in the middle of an inferno of brilliant orange flames, and then seeing her father's, _Iemitsu_ Sawada's, _Italian_ Boss poke her otouto's forehead with a flaming finger; well, it put the whole reincarnation situation in perspective for Sayuri. She had thanked all the gods and goddesses she knew that she had seen it from the safety of her room, with none of the people in the yard any wiser.

In her previous life, she had had a little brother as well, and for all that he had been a little shit, she had loved him very much. She had been ripped away from him rather cruelly, and she was thankful for the second chance she had been given. Make no mistake, Sayuri knew Tsuna was no Chris, and she did not think of him as a replacement, either. It helped that Chris had been taller than her and black-haired, and a bit of a bully, too, not that he had dared to do anything against her. Tsuna was a fluffy kitten, all soft and clumsy, and too adorable to boot.

Sayuri, thankfully, had had a lot of time to adjust to the fact that she had died, violently at that, and had been reborn (snicker), when her mind made the connection from Tsu-chan, her adorably shy kitten of a brother, to Tsunayoshi Sawada, the _Decimo_ _boss_ of the _Vongola_ _Mafia Family_. When her brain had stopped hysterically screaming, she had turned cold and calculative. She had climbed into her bed and stayed there until her so-called father and his boss and colleagues had left for Italy. After her mother had put her brother to sleep and had retired to bed herself, Sayuri had sat up in her bed, opened a notebook, and started to do something which she excelled at, planning and plotting.

Shaking her head, Sayuri came back to the present, and got out of the shower, toweling herself dry. Slipping into the bathrobe, she hurried into her room and started to get dressed.

In her old life, which she had started to refer to as _Before_ , she had been a shameless non-conformist, and while she had identified as female, most of her clothing had been androgynous in appearance, if only a bit too formal. And she saw no reason as to why she couldn't continue to do so in the present one.

Putting on some fitted black pants, she threw on a white shirt, tucking it in. Browsing in her closet, she pulled out a waistcoat in scarlet, smiling as found the very item she had searched for weeks. Buttoning up the waistcoat, she looked around for her suit jacket. Locating it on her desk chair, she pulled it on, and smoothing the collar, she checked in the mirror for any discrepancies in her attire. Satisfied with her clothes, she quickly brushed her hair, which hardly took a minute, seeing as it was cut in an asymmetrical bob. She paused for a moment, thinking, and then grabbed her gun holster, with her gun, and wore it under the jacket. She also strapped a hunting knife to both her ankles and slipped her collapsible Bō staff into her pocket. Grabbing her wallet and keys, she went to wake her brother up.

Sneaking into her brother's room, a mischievous smile crept onto her face as she debated on the various ways she could wake Tsuna up. His reactions were always so hilarious. But as she took a look at the time, she simply opted for shaking him awake.

As Tsuna sat up groggily, Sayuri smiled and told him, "Breakfast is ready, Tsu-chan. Get ready quickly or you're gonna be late for school."

As she went downstairs, she could hear a "Hiiee" from Tsuna's room, which made her smirk slightly. So entertaining, her little Tsu-chan.

Sayuri sat at the table and started eating her breakfast, after muttering a quick "Itadakimas".

Some crashing and tumbling could be heard from down the hall, but she paid it no attention, and neither did her mother, the latter only sparing a concerned, yet exasperated, glance in the direction of the noise, both of them sadly used to the daily occurrence that was the clumsiness of the youngest member of the family. A disheveled Tsuna came and sat at the chabudai, rubbing at his head, a sheepish expression on his face. They all ate in silence for a few minutes, Tsuna gobbling his food up, shooting desperate glances at the clock.

Nana broke the silence, and cheerily said, "Tsu-kun, I have hired a home-tutor for you. Papa recommended him!"

Tsuna gaped at her and gave his older sister a betrayed look, when she said nothing against their mother's proclamation.

"But… Kaa-san, I don't need a home-tutor! Aneki already tutors me," burst out Tsuna, giving Sayuri a pleading look.

But Nana simply shook her head and replied, "Your sister is very busy nowadays, she teaches at your school already. I have already called him, and it is even free! Look," she said, brandishing a pamphlet, "It says that we only need to provide room and board!"

Tsuna only groaned in despair and thunked his head on the table.

Sayuri, meanwhile, was thinking about her job, which was teaching English to the brats at Tsuna's middle school. When she had died, she had been a 25-year-old woman with a Master's degree in Anthropology, and had just started on her PhD. No way was she wasting that much education, seeing as she had been given a second chance at life. So Sayuri had gradually displayed signs of more than average intelligence as she grew up, and so had been labeled a child genius as she completed high school when of age 13, and her bachelor's degree by age 17. While she did want to get her Master's, she also wanted to keep an eye out for her younger brother, as there was a 90% chance that he would still be chosen as Vongola Decimo, despite Sayuri being the older sibling, seeing as the Mafia was rather sexist; when there was a male candidate, why would they want a female one? Even the Vongola Ottava was chosen because she was the only child of the previous Don.

So, Sayuri wanted to oversee Tsuna's progress, and see to her family's safety, as her dumb father had not posted any guards against any assassins coming after the family of the CEDEF leader. She had lost count of the attempts on her family's person she had thwarted over the two years she had been home after college. So she had applied for and got the position as the English teacher at Namimori Middle School.

Lost in her memories, Sayuri ate her breakfast silently. She only roused as the doorbell rang. Getting to her feet, she said over her shoulder, "I'll get it, Kaa-san, you eat your breakfast."

Opening the door, her eyes were drawn to the fedora-wearing, suit-clad toddler standing in front of her. Fathomless black eyes stared at her for a moment from under the brim of the orange-ribboned fedora. Her eyes were inevitably drawn towards the impossibly curly sideburns. The toddler spoke in a high, cutesy voice, and her attention snapped towards him.

"Ciaossu! Is this the Sawada residence?"

* * *

Reborn stared in interest as the door to the Sawada's house was opened by the older sister of the Decimo candidate. Taking a moment to assess her, he lamented internally that Sawada Sayuri was not chosen instead. Because going by the reports he had of her, she clearly was a genius, had been labeled a child prodigy even, and was already proficient in more than four languages. But the Mafia was rather sexist, even with some famous Donnas. Observing the figure in front of him, he saw that while her clothes were a bit too formal, they clearly were of a higher quality than usually seen on people her age and status. Her straight black hair was cut in a practical, yet pleasing to look at cut. All in all, she cut an elegant figure, if slightly edgy. But he could see the tell-tale bulge of a gun under her jacket, which alarmed him slightly, as there had been no such information on the reports on the younger female of the Sawada household. But he pushed that thought aside, to be examined later on, as Sawada Sayuri's amber eyes, ones she shared with her brother, narrowed in confusion, and was that recognition?

So Reborn squeaked cheerily, "Ciaossu! Is this the Sawada residence?" even as the ever-present loathing for his baby-ish voice surfaced and was pushed aside with the ease that comes from doing so regularly.


	2. A Handful of Aconite

_Two roads diverged in a wood And I-_

_I took the one less travelled by,_

_And that has made all the difference._

_The Road Not Taken_

_By Robert Frost_

* * *

Watching as the woman's gaze sharpen slightly, Reborn frowned internally, contemplating the various ways he would eviscerate the absolute bumbling _idioti_ at the CEDEF. They had given him the very bare bones of the eldest of the Sawada siblings, which was absolutely useless for him to work with, or if it was necessary, _around_ it. _Well_ , he sighed to himself, _with a leader like that, what could you expect._

Sawada Sayuri knelt down cautiously, and asked, " _Yes, it is. Who are you?"_

Noting the usage of English by Sayuri, he replied in Japanese, "I am the home tutor, Reborn. My services were requested."

She raised her eyebrows and said politely, "Of course. Please, come in."

Observing the young woman rise fluidly to her feet, an action which spoke of previous training, (and again, he cursed the CEDEF for their incompetency), Reborn entered the house, unconsciously cataloguing all the details he could see. ( _He could see deep red stilettos, slight scuff marks on them saying they were used frequently, and raised an eyebrow in consideration; given all the information he had managed to acquire from the short observation of Sawada Sayuri, he could tell that she knew how to fight, and fight well. That she wore those deathtraps regularly spoke of years of hard work spent on balance and agility, something he had seen of in only a handful of people.)_

He briefly eyed her shapely behind, before mentally berating himself, feeling like a paedophile. Ironic considering who, no, _what_ he was.

* * *

"Kaa-san, the home-tutor's here." Sayuri told her mother as she entered the dining room.

As Reborn entered after her, she told her family, "I'll leave you to get acquainted. I have an early staff meeting. See you in school, Tsuna. Bye Mom."

Bestowing a kiss on her mom's cheek, she ruffled her brother's hair and turned to leave. All the while fortifying her mind against the chaos she knew was to come and invade her sanctum. And she knew she was powerless to stop it. It made something primal inside her thrash for retaliation. It was only with immense willpower that she was able to muffle what those instincts were telling her, knowing that her Flames were aggravating those feelings.

Ignoring her screaming instincts, she took one last glance at her family and the guest _(InTrUdEr)_ seated at the dining table and left the room. Collecting her bag from the living room, Sayuri slipped on her stilettos, using her secondary Flames to cushion her feet, and left the house, heading towards the school.

On the way, she mused about the happenings in her house just then, and the impression she must have made on one of the strongest Arcobaleno. She had thought long and hard on the image she had wanted to portray to the Hitman. Every last detail about her appearance had been carefully calculated towards cultivating an image that, while rather misleading, was somewhat close to the truth as well. Even the usage of English while addressing him.

_Although,_ she thought ruefully, _the gun was a bit of an overkill._

While she was proficient in the handling of firearms, Sayuri preferred _bojutsu_ and the use of pressure points to eliminate any hostile attacks. The gun, which she had found in one of Iemitsu's hidden caches, was only for dealing with enemies that she could not afford to get up close and personal with. At that thought, the eldest Sawada sibling had to violently repress a flashback from the first time she had to use lethal force against an assassin sent by one of the Vongola's rival Famiglias.

Sighing, she pushed the unpleasant memories from her mind, and hastily made her way into a nearby alley. Entering the alley, she stepped into an alcove and removed her jacket in order for her to relocate the gun from such an obvious place. Relocating the gun, she stripped off the holster and put in her bag. She was glad that she had chosen to wear a jacket that did not hug her waist, as the gun she had tucked into the holster at the small of her back would have been visible otherwise.

Japan had very strict laws over the possession of firearms by private citizens. And while her lineage practically demanded her immersion into the world of organized crime, she did not particularly want to get arrested.

Hurrying out of the alley, she made her way to Namimori Middle School. She was late for a meeting with her adorable _kouhai._

* * *

Reborn watched as the older sister of his student looked at her family and him with an unfathomable look in her eyes, and took her leave. Almost as if she was eager to leave his presence. Something inside him itched at that thought, but he ignored it masterfully.

As he waited for the sound of the door closing, his gaze sharpened as he felt a small, almost imperceptible flare of Flames from the direction of the entryway. A flare of Cloud Flames, to be exact. _That_ had definitely not been in any of his reports. Sawada Sayuri was Flame-Active.

That was a headache he had not expected. He had thought that the elder sibling was Latent, as there had not been any reports suggesting otherwise. He had also assumed that Primo's bloodline would have prevailed in the sister as well, manifesting in Sky Flames.

He mentally groaned. Because _of course_ the older sister was a Cloud. The gods did not think he had suffered enough. They had to give him a clumsy, no-good lamb of a student, with a possible homicidal sister. Because the Ninth and Iemitsu, in their infinite wisdom, had _ideas_ of marrying off the elder sister, for promoting goodwill, and preserving the bloodline.

They wanted to marry her off to _Xanxus._

_(That was a natural disaster waiting to happen. One reminiscent of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Which made the Vongola Famiglia the town of Pompeii.)_

He had been against the notion from the start, but then again, that was not his job. Reborn would just have to make sure to keep popcorn handy if, and when, Iemitsu decided to inform his daughter of his decision. The explosion was sure to be spectacular for all.

Except for Iemitsu. But who cared about him, anyway.

Having learnt that Sayuri had Cloud Flames, the imminent blow-up appeared a thousand times more ominous. He only hoped that she was a Classic, not an Inverted Cloud. At least then the violence would be predictable.

_Well,_ Reborn mentally shrugged, _it is none of my business anyway._

All of this passed through his mind in the span of a few seconds. He then turned his soulless black eyes onto his new student.

Said student squeaked minutely at his weighty stare.

Reborn sighed.

* * *

Sayuri entered her broom cupboard of an office and dumped her bag on the floor, beside her desk. Seating herself behind the table, she began the tedious job of sorting the test papers and lesson plans for the day on her desk.

As absorbed as she was in her task, she was only peripherally aware of the figure sitting down in front of her. As she continued her duties, the figure shifted slightly in their chair and cleared their throat slightly.

"Carnivore," intoned Hibari Kyoya.

"Huh," she looked up and said, "Oh, Kyoya! Ohaiyou!"

He nodded slightly in return and she had to suppress an amused smirk at his reserved behavior. That boy had grown even more anti-social throughout the years. She still remembered him as the puffed-up, pouty-faced, angry six-year-old who had tried to attack her shishou and her, while they had been practicing in the Hibari dojo, proclaiming that he would _'bite the annoying carnivore to death'_.

She teased Kyoya about that incident quite frequently. It always brought such an adorable blush to his face.

Now, though, she had some serious news for him, though she did not hold much hope that he would heed her words, or at least not get involved. It was in his blood, just as it was in hers.

Lacing her fingers together, she cocked her face and considered the teenager in front of her. He had grown up to be very pretty. She was sure that had he not had his godforsaken thirst for violence and order, he would have had a huge crowd of fangirls and fanboys. Thankfully for the collective health of the community, that was not so.

"The peace of Namimori is about to be disturbed, though it is necessary for some time."

At her simplistic declaration, Kyoya's eyes flashed with a feral sort of hostility, and his body tensed minutely before relaxing in a way that looked deliberate. He made an aborted twitch of his hands, and she knew that it was her cue to interrupt his deliberations.

"Kyoya." Sayuri said firmly. "This is not something you will be able to take on by yourself. Right now, you are half-grown wolf in the midst of mostly sheep and cattle. But there are bigger carnivores than you which can and _will_ annihilate you without a second thought. I would like you to atleast reach your twenties before you go and kill yourself off."

He looked offended, like a cat whose fur had been rubbed the wrong way, and opened his mouth to interrupt. But she held up a hand, and he descended into mutinous silence once again, unwilling to go against her. Sayuri felt a frisson of warmth at this display of the respect the youngest Hibari had for her.

She smiled warmly at him, to take away the sting from her words, and said a little more gently, "Even wolves need a pack to hunt and protect their territory properly. Remember that, Kyo-chan."

He scowled at the nickname she had addressed him by since he had been a wee lad. One which he disliked heartily. But he seemed to be ruminating on her words, which he would hopefully take to heart.

Smiling briefly at him, Sayuri turned back to the hell that was grading papers, wordlessly dismissing him. She heard him reluctantly snort at the face she made in the direction of the papers. The scraping of a chair could be heard as he got up to leave.

"Oh, and Kyoya?"

He looked back at her, waiting, his hand on the doorknob.

"Please do not blame my brother. It really is not his fault that the embodiment of chaos is in town."

Thinning his lips in obvious distaste, he nodded slightly in acceptance and said, "You owe me for this, Carnivore. Lunch on the rooftop. I want to fight you."

With this statement, he closed the door behind him as he left.

Sawada Sayuri groaned and dropped her head onto the pile of papers in front of her. Although a part of her was almost salivating at the thought of battling with someone able to handle her hits.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a haze of classes and grading papers _(damn the paperwork to the depths of Hades)_. She also fulfilled her end of the deal by having a spar with Kyoya during lunch hour, with her defeating him with relative ease. Relative, because while she was victorious, she did not escape without a few bruises, which were thankfully hidden by her clothes.

Going by the gossip spreading throughout the student body, and even a few staff members, her brother had had quite an eventful day. While she did not remember most of the details about the anime and manga, she did remember the chronograph of the events and the main elements of the storyline.

Apparently, her otouto had confessed to his crush, who was the school's most popular girl, wearing only boxers. Another admirer of hers, one captain of the Kendo club had challenged him to a duel, with Sasagawa Kyoko, the girl in question, as a prize. _(A part of her snarled with offense at the thought of a girl being treated as a prize.)_ Luckily for the kendo captain, Tsuna had won the bout (in his boxers, again), otherwise she would have taken him to task and then given him over to Kyoya as a plaything.

Thinking back, she recalled that a loss of outer clothing was a side effect of those weird bullets that brought out the Soul Flames (she was _not_ going to refer to them as _Dying Will Flames)._

_Well,_ she thought pragmatically, _as long as they are not used on me, and don't harm anyone permanently, I am not going to concern myself with them._

Finishing up her remaining work, she locked her office and made her way home. School had already let out by the time she had finished, so she made her solitary way home.

As she got closer to home, a buzzing started under her skin. It did not feel ominous. Rather, it felt a bit impatient. As if her intuition wanted her to go home as quickly as possible. But not in a negative manner.

Fed up due to her instincts, ( _sometimes she wondered if she had a second mind, one which was that of a cat, because, it was just as picky and prickly as one),_ Sayuri concentrated on her flames to see whether there was any clue which could be discerned through them as to why her instincts were acting out.

Sitting on a nearby bench, she closed her eyes and delved inside her mind. She observed her smoothly flowing purple Cloud Flames first. She had expected them to be roiling around violently at the arrival of a stranger in her home, but to her surprise and apprehension, they were almost _purring_ with satisfaction.

Troubled by the abnormal behavior of her Cloud flames, she then went in even deeper to investigate the tightly coiled orange Flames nestled deep within her Cloud flames, the ones which she protected and cherished with the zeal of a Cloud.

Her Sky flames, while still tightly curled with no leakage, were almost eager, reaching for something intangible. Which distressed her even more than the calmness of her Cloud.

She got the impression of possession and protection, of _Harmony_ , from her amber flames.

_(A feeling of mInEmInEnEeDmYsUnMiNe)_

It scared her. Her Sky had never longed for bonds, for elements to call her own. For she had not wished to be someone who had to be protected. Her Cloud Flames had emphasized that feeling. She would be the one protecting. She would not be helpless again.

From what she had gathered about Skies, they were mostly encouraged to stay away from the battlefield, especially female Skies. Expected to rely on their _Guardians_. She hated that term. She much preferred the term Elements. Atleast that one didn't imply that Skies were in need of _guarding._

So the fact that her Sky wanted to bond with someone terrified her. Because she _knew_ that it was Reborn's Sun that her flames were attracted to.

Sayuri dropped her head onto her hands. _What a goddamn clusterfuck._

* * *

After making sure her Sky flames were hidden by her Cloud, she opened the door and entered her home. Removing her shoes in the entryway, she gave a sigh of relief on having her feet flat again. Even Cloud flames could only do so much to cushion her soles.

"Tadaima!"

"Okaeri, Sayuri! Go change, my dear, I'll have some food ready for you. Tsuna and his tutor are in his room. Check on them, would you?" said her mother, poking her head out from the kitchen.

Giving her mother an accepting nod, she smiled gratefully at her and went up the stairs.

Knocking lightly on her otouto _'s_ door, she opened it after hearing a soft "come in".

Tsuna and his tutor were seated across from each other, and there were a few sheets spread on the table between them.

Tsuna glanced up and exclaimed, "Aneki! What are you doing here?"

Raising one eyebrow at his shout, Sayuri said in a dry tone, "Well, otouto _,_ I am here to ask you whether you are alright or not. I did not get a chance to ask while in school. You had quite an eventful day, from what I hear. Confessing to girls in your underpants? I taught you better than to be so disrespectful, Tsunayoshi."

Hearing his full name made Tsuna wince and his whole face flushed a deep red.

"S-so you heard about t-that, did you, nee-san?" He stuttered.

Huffing a small laugh, Sayuri said, "Everyone in school did. I won't be surprised if Midori Girls School hears about it by tomorrow."

Tsuna hung his head at that prediction.

* * *

Reborn watched with wary eyes as his student's sister lightly made fun of her brother's antics in school. While on the surface Sayuri's actions were carefree and teasing, he could see the tense and strained muscles of her face. As if she was restraining herself from doing something with great difficulty.

As she and her brother conversed, the World's Greatest Hitman could feel that her aura was gaining a slightly Cloudy tang. Which made him tense, but the Cloudiness did not feel threatening.

As the conversation progressed, he could see his student relaxing. _Now that wouldn't do._

Reborn smirked inwardly, and inserted in one of the lulls in the conversation, "Sayuri, would you like to join Tsuna's Family?"

Predictably, Tsuna let out a shrill shriek and started shouting at him, saying that he did not want his innocent sister involved in that business and on and on.

Throughout the shouting and wailing, Reborn kept his eyes trained on his target. Several expressions flashed across her face but the ones which caught his attention were the ones which spoke of recognition, and revulsion.

When his idiotic student started spouting off on how his sister was too innocent for all of this, Reborn caught the absolutely incredulous look Sayuri threw her little brother, and wondered.

Sayuri let out a chiming laugh and replied with _(false)_ obliviousness, "Oh, but I am already Tsuna's Aneki, aren't I? Well, I'll leave you boys to study. I need to go get refreshed. Bye!"

Reborn's eyes narrowed as Sayuri left the room and softly closed the door. _This required careful observation._


	3. A Spray of Larkspur

_These woods are lovely, dark and deep._

_But I have promises to keep,_

_And miles to go before I sleep,_

_And miles to go before I sleep._

_\- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening_

_\- By Robert Frost._

* * *

The next few days passed in a flurry of lessons, meetings and exams. Sawada Sayuri was thoroughly exasperated with the level of incompetence of the previous English teachers at Nami Middle. It had been a headache and a half just to get the brats she was teaching to an acceptable level of English proficiency in the six months she had been teaching there.

But she was not so caught up in academics that she failed to notice that her little brother had gained two new friends. Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato.

The son of the sushi chef (who was a retired assassin and swordsman), and the star baseball player of the school. And the hot-headed Italian transfer student who dressed like a punk. She had not yet had the pleasure of meeting them, but planned on doing so in the upcoming days.

When she first learned of the two and their friendship with Tsuna, she was sceptical. But then she put two and two together, and groaned. Of course. They were to be his Guardians, handpicked by Reborn himself.

_She needed to vet them._

* * *

Heels clacked upon the road as Sawada Sayuri walked in towards her home. From an outsider's point of view, she looked unhurried, even relaxed, with her face serene. Her pace was leisurely as her jacket sleeves fluttered in the breeze, blazer hanging from her shoulders, like a queen's cape.

However, in the privacy of her mind, her thoughts whirled like a dervish, a maelstrom of complicated emotions she could not, for the life of her, hope to identify. Which in turn inspired another bout of fretting and grousing, which, frankly, was grating on her already overwrought nerves. It was a novel experience for the usually unflappable young woman.

She did not understand just from where these prickly feelings were coming from. If this had been a week before, she would have blamed her rampaging hormones and called it a day. However, one of the perks of being a Sky was being in complete Harmony with your body. Which usually meant that she had a preternatural sense of exactly what an organ of her body was doing at any given time of the day. And her ovaries and womb were being rather docile at that moment.

That fact brought her back to being worried about her unusual behaviour, to again being pissed off at not knowing why. Then, being distracted by trivial things. And the cycle continued.

And her Flames were being of no use to her for gathering any clues. They were roiling and surging every which way, but she could not find the catalyst for this unrest. Her flames were not giving out any definite feeling, just a sense of mild offense and irritation, which was increasing incrementally, but steadily.

_(Sometimes she wondered whether she should have just been reincarnated as a cat. Her Flames would certainly remain the same. Because, honestly, it would make their behaviour make a lot more sense than now)_

But when she turned the corner into her street, her feelings began to make a lot more sense.

The area just outside the gates of her house was absolutely _crowded_ by European men in black suits, which just screamed _Mafiosi._ Cautiously, she continued her way towards her home, although she kept her steps light. Soundlessly, she came up to the crowd of men _(Mafiosi)_ and tapped one of them on the shoulder. It was almost hilarious, the way he spun around at the small touch.

Keeping a tight hold on her anger, Sayuri said, with her tone sickly sweet, "Excuse me, gentlemen. Is there a problem here?"

The _stronzo_ in front of her had the absolute gall to try to herd her away from the entrance of _her_ house, intoning in a superior voice, "Ma'am, only members of the Sawada family are allowed here. Please leave. You are intruding."

At those words, the tenuous grasp she had on her Cloud flames slipped, and they flared threateningly. Not yet in the visible spectrum, the pressure from her Cloud steadily rose and pressed down on the _apes_ in front of her.

They turned ghostly white at the display from her Flames, which were flaring enough for even those who weren't sensitive to Flames could sense them. Beads of perspiration dotted their foreheads as they stared at her in fearful apprehension.

She slowly advanced on them. Almost unconsciously, they took a step back for every one she gained.

"You dare tell me that I am intruding, when you have gathered as a swarm of _pests_ in front of _my_ house. You dare tell me to _leave?"_ She questioned them, her voice low and fierce.

Almost scrambling to get out of her way, babbling apologies and bowing, the mafiosi prayed and mumbled, panic-stricken, amongst themselves about _clouds_ and _why me_ and _no-one said there was a cloud_ and _oh god, boss._

Levelling them with a malevolent glare, she dared them to intrude upon her territory. They whimpered, and a visceral part of her _purred_ at their show of submission.

Letting herself into the house, Sayuri glanced between the stairs and the kitchen, where she could hear her mum cooking. But the mumbling by the idiots outside had told her that the boss of the incompetent morons was there, in her _house_. That made the decision for her.

Removing her shoes, and going up the stairs towards where she could sense the intruder to be, she noticed that something about the atmosphere inside seemed _off_.

Concentrating slightly, her steps slowing down on the staircase, she felt foreign flames brushing against her, filling the entire house. They glided along her skin, almost teasing in their approach.

Her skin prickled with goosebumps. She almost snarled in offense.

For they were Sky flames, trying to entice her. _Unfamiliar_ Sky flames. Trying to _court_ her Cloud.

She almost lost control right then and there. The stirring of her flames before had been nothing. They were a typhoon now. An unstoppable tsunami. And she almost let go. Almost let her Cloud go on a rampage. For her Cloud was gearing up for battle. For war. _Hungering for blood._

But it was her Sky that managed to rein them in. Her Sky which was just as much, if not more, possessive of the people she considered _hers._ Her Sky gave of a feeling of biding their time, of using a scalpel instead of a hammer to _slice_ and _cut_ and _kill_ whoever was threatening her territory. Who was trying to get her to submit.

Her Sky snarled and thrashed and demanded blood for the intruding _other_ , the one who felt that spreading his flames like that was okay, that it would be alright to do that in _her_ home, her _safety net._

_Blood will be spilt._

Marshalling her rampaging flames, and emotions, she took a deep breath, and after making sure only her Cloud flames could be sensed, she ascended the stairs.

She could sense that the rude _Sky_ was in her brother's room, with him and Reborn.

_(She will not let this trespasser harm her brother. She will not let another Sky hurt him again.)_

Rapping her knuckles firmly on the door of her little brother's room, she opened the door without waiting for the reply.

Stepping inside the room, she closed the door behind her without tearing her gaze away from the blond sitting in a leather armchair, something she was very certain had not been there in the morning. She noticed Tsuna and Reborn sitting to the side absentmindedly.

She regarded the young man in front of her hostilely. So this was the Sky who thought it was okay to flare their flames like an uncultured _swine._

The one in front of her had shaggy fair hair and brown eyes set in a handsome face. This might have distracted others, but she had never been one to have her head turned by a pretty face. The fact that his flames were rubbing her flames the wrong way did not help either.

She narrowed her eyes and decided to break the silence that had descended with her entrance. She deliberately ignored the tense form of Reborn and the bewildered gaze of her otouto. The blond had been observing her in return, and gifted her with a cheerful grin as she opened her mouth.

"Who are you, and why are you in my little brother's room?"

"You must be my cute little brother's big sister. It's nice to meet you! I'm Dino. Dino Cavallone."

This disgustingly cheerful greeting was accompanied by a tendril of Sky flames, which tried to entwine with her Cloud. Which proved to be a very, very bad idea.

Her flames exploded.

* * *

When Reborn felt the roiling aura of an irritated Cloud approach the house, he prayed that Dino's men would not be idiots. But feeling the aura increase in malevolence, he grimaced internally and braced himself for the imminent explosion, hoping that the house, atleast, would remain standing.

He gave Dino up as a hopeless case, thinking that he might just be skilled enough to survive a pissed off Cloud.

But then he felt his ex-student's Sky flames extend and reach for the Cloud currently coming up the stairs. And felt a flicker of hope, that Dino would be powerful enough to attract a Cloud of this strength.

Knuckles rapped firmly on the door to the room. The door opened before a reply could be given.

Tsuna started slightly as his elder sister stepped into the room, hostility oozing from her pores. But he had the sense to remain silent as Sayuri glared at Dino, the aura of barely restrained violence palpable around her.

The question asked by the elder Sawada sibling made him wince, the barely hidden accusation of paedophilia directed at Dino leaving him a bit disturbed on the inside. _(He suspected that Sayuri had a hidden little brother complex.)_

He focused on the Flames he could almost see around the young woman. They were eerily still, the calm before the storm. It made him want to tense, but something was telling him that there would be no danger towards him, atleast from her. He felt safe. That thought sent a frisson of _something_ through him. _(He wanted to call it apprehension, but deep down he knew it was anticipation.)_

It made no sense. She was a Cloud, and a strong one at that. His instincts should be telling him the exact opposite of what he felt. Clouds were usually volatile and lashed out if they felt even slightly threatened. So, all in all, almost every _Mafioso_ was rather wary around them.

And while Skull was a definite aberration, even mature Clouds, like Nono's Cloud Guardian, Visconti, were prone to solitude and violent retaliations.

Dino's cheerful greeting jarred him out of his thoughts and he focused back on the scene in front of him.

Reborn sensed the blonde's Flames attempt to soothe the hostile ones opposite him, and watched the happenings cautiously. He only had a moment's warning to transform Leon into a barricade to shield Tsuna, before a tsunami of flames erupted out of Sayuri, and whirled around her. Loose paper fluttered and got swept away by the wind accompanying the explosion. The Cavallone Decimo flung himself out of the armchair and held it in front of his as a shield, flimsy though it may have been.

But it was the threatening, flaring mass of brilliant orange Flames that erupted from Sawada Sayuri that enraptured Reborn. Her Cloud flames acting almost as support, bolstering the strength of the Sky. The sheer feral beauty of her flames left him in awe-filled silence.

* * *

Throughout his lifetime, Reborn had seen his share of Skies and had felt their strength. Almost all of them had tried to reach for him, had tried to make him theirs. All of them had been rejected, sometimes violently; his Sun was too strong. Only Luce had come close to Harmonizing with him, but that bridge had been burned rather vindictively by Reborn.

_(He ignored the burning emotion of yearning for a Sky of his own, pushing it down until he could pretend it didn't hurt every time a Sky failed to Harmonize.)_

But when he felt tendrils of Sky flames approach him, he only felt curiosity from his Sun, when he usually felt indifference from them. So he brought out his flames and allowed them to mingle with Sayuri's, ignoring his yelping and wailing ex-student.

Reborn's flames gave off a feeling of anticipation as the Sky flames tentatively curled around them.

Sayuri's head snapped towards him and gazed at him in horror.

Something clicked at the back of his mind.

_Tadaima._


End file.
